Bidding for the 11th International Congress of Plant Pathology, 2018

This advisory document should be read in conjunction with the document "Call for bids to host the 11th International Congress of Plant Pathology, 2018", which is attached as <CALL for bids ICPP2018 >.

Additional points to consider

The last three Congresses (ICPP1998, ICPP2003 and ICPP2008) and the 2013 Congress, to be held in Beijing, China in 2013, have several aspects in common, and bidding societies are urged to consider these points in preparing their bid.

The successful bid will be selected by a vote of ISPP Councillors, representing the Associated Societies of ISPP. Among the issues they are likely to consider are: (i) the technical aspects of the bid and the appeal of its presentation, (ii) the capability and experience of the host society for organising a good Congress, (iii) the anticipated costs of attendance, (iv) support for and visa access for delegates from developing countries and (v) other (tourist) attractions in visiting the country or destination proposed.

Congress Committee

Under ISPP Rules of Procedure the Congress is organized by a Congress Committee, one of whose members is appointed as a Vice-President of ISPP and has special responsibility for liaison between the Congress Committee and ISPP Executive. The general plan of the Congress is to be submitted to ISPP's Executive Committee for approval.

A range of groups and committees are usually convened (see the ICPP2008 brochure for examples) to co-ordinate local and international planning of the Congress.

Finances

Under ISPP Rules of Procedure the Congress Committee, not the ISPP, is financially responsible for the Congress.

Sample budgets of past Congresses are available to provide potential bidders with an idea of the types of items and costs that need to be included in the budget. The organisers should budget to cover all costs, and this is likely to require significant income from sponsorship. A Bursary Fund is normally sponsored, to assist attendance from developing countries. Organisers may wish to insure against liabilities associated with organising the event, Organisers may wish to arrange that keynote speakers cover their own costs (since the invitation is in itself an honour).

Scientific Program

The scientific program should ideally reflect the breadth of international progress in applied and basic plant pathology. Some help can be expected from ISPP Subject Matter Committees and organizers are strongly advised to seek their inputs. The ISPP Executive will also advise closely in the planning and selection stages of the Scientific Program Committee to ensure that the Committee and program are reflective of the diversity of membership and interests of ISPP Associated Societies. The Congress is an opportunity for an international audience to hear presentations from global specialists, and it is important that the program distinguish itself from the meetings of regional or national societies through diversity in choice of speakers and topics.

In recent Congresses, Subject Matter Committees have played a significant role in devising programs of technical sessions and workshops. It may be appropriate to involve scientists from the developing world in development of the program.

Professor Richard Strange, the Editor in Chief of the ISPP journal Food Security, should also be consulted (through the ISPP Executive) in relation to opportunities to publish plenary session papers in the ISPP journal.

Special sessions

A feature of recent Congresses has been an open session* organized by the ISPP Task Force on Global Food Security on a theme related to plant pathology and global food security. This Session includes the  Glen Anderson Lecture (* access to this session open to the public, or by invitation, at no charge).

Provision also needs to be made for the presentation ceremony for the Jakob Eriksson Prize (see Appendix) and Oration (= Keynote speech programmed as ‘The Jakob Eriksson Oration’).

ISPP will provide some support for the participation of the Glenn Anderson Lecturer and the Eriksson Prize recipient.

The ISPP reserves to right to oversee publication of papers from some sessions in liaison with their publisher (Springer) and the Congress Organisers.

Provision should also be made for the following ISPP meetings during the Congress:

                a General Assembly (the order of 2000 persons) (constituted by opening and closing ceremonies and plenary sessions)

                a Council (the order of 100-200 persons)

                a meeting of the Taskforce for Food Security

                several Executive Committee (EC) sessions (about 10 persons each) (starting 1-2 days before the congress)

                Editorial Board meeting for the ISPP Journal, Food Security

Complimentary display booths for ISPP and for Springer, the publisher of the ISPP journal, Food Security (and including other booth benefits such as complimentary registrations, staff access, standard furniture).

For the functions of these meetings, see the ISPP website at http://www.isppweb.org/about_objectives_statutes.asp.

Concurrence with national or regional conferences 

It may be appropriate for the host society to hold their regular national or regional conference concurrently with the Congress.

Abstracts of presentations

Ideally these should be prepared in a form that can initially accessed from an ICPP2018 site, and later accessed from the ISPP website.

Associated Workshops

The Subject Matter Committees of ISPP, and other groups, may want to organise evening workshops or pre- or post-Congress meetings.  The Congress Committee should facilitate these through provision of meeting rooms over two evenings, co-ordinating scheduling, and ensuring that organisers meet deadlines. An additional registration has usually been charged for pre- and post-congress meetings, but not evening meetings.

Social Program and Technical tours

A program of social activities including a welcoming reception and congress dinner should be included in the program. Organisers may also want to include a range of technical and sight-seeing tours as pre-or post-congress activities.

Cost of registration

Every effort should be made to contain the costs of registration, with special consideration given to students, retired members, and participants from developing countries. The latter could also be supported through the Bursary Fund (see above).

Congress venue

The venue (or venues) should include a hall large enough to host the opening session of around 2000 delegates and other plenary sessions, with easy access to other venues for con-current sessions and workshops.

Accommodation

A range of options should be provided from 4 or 5 star hotel, to budget hotel, to university dormitory within walking distance of the Congress venue or via shuttle bus or taxi.

Support for developing country participants

Host societies should consider strategies to boost attendance from developing, including the Bursary Fund mentioned above.

ISPP support

ISPP may be able to provide limited start-up funding as a refundable loan.

The Congress Committee member who is a Vice-President of ISPP should ensure good liaison with ISPP throughout the planning of the Congress.

Use of Congress surplus

There is currently no stipulation on how the host society should use any surplus that may accrue from the Congress. The British and Australasian societies (hosts of ICPP1998 and ICPP2003) used a portion of their surplus to support the following Congress and to establish a bursary fund to support attendance of their members at future Congresses.

Host society bids should also consider stipulating that, in addition to repaying any funds advanced by ISPP, a portion of any surplus will be returned to ISPP for activities that benefit all member societies and/or promote international plant pathology. For example, the Italian hosts of ICPP2008 contributed a substantial share of the surplus to the ISPP.

G. I. Johnson

Secretary General

International Society for Plant Pathology

c/- PO Box 412, Jamison, ACT Canberra Australia

Email greg.johnson@velocitynet.com.au

Tel 61 2 62515658

The Jakob Eriksson Prize

The Jakob Eriksson Prize was established in 1923 at Wageningen, The Netherlands, to encourage creative study of plant pathogens and the processes of disease development in plants. Jakob Eriksson was a prominent Swedish mycologist and plant pathologist who specialized in fungal taxonomy and parasitism by plant pathogenic fungi. He also was a fervent internationalist who promoted cooperation between plant pathologists, and, although he had passed away in 1931, his writings and ideas were instrumental in the formation of the International Society for Plant Pathology in 1968 at the first International Congress of Plant Pathology.

The fund associated with the prize was augmented by contributions from Professor Hendrik M Quanjer (The Netherlands), Professor Arthur Jaczewski (Russia) and the American Phytopathological Society. The Jakob Eriksson Prize Fund is administered now by the Eriksson Prize Commission through the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm that also stands as a guarantor for the continuation of the Award.

In 1950, the 7th International Botanical Congress adopted a resolution that the Botanical Section of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), through a committee of experts elected by the Section, should nominate a candidate for the Eriksson Prize before each Botanical Congress. In 1993, the Eriksson Prize Commission decided to sever its relationship with the Botanical Section of IUBS, and to ask ISPP to award the Prize at the International Congress of Plant Pathology (ICPP1993) in Montreal and at subsequent Congresses. The Prize consists of a gold medal and a cash award. There now have been four awardees at ISPP Congresses: Ariena van Bruggen (1993), Richard Frederiksen (1998), Dr Jaccov Katan (2003) and Dr Laurence V Madden (2008). The Prize is awarded in the Congress Plenary Session, and the custom is that a representative of the Swedish Government in the country of the Congress venue presents the Prize. In 2008, the ISPP also instigated the delivery of an oration by the Eriksson Prize Awardee.

The following words were spoken by the Swedish representative at ICPP2008 in Torino, Italy, about the presentation to the 2008 Winner of the Jakob Eriksson Prize, Dr Laurence V Madden.

“On behalf of the International Committee for The Jakob Eriksson Prize Fund, today I have the honour to present the 2008 Award winner. The Prize is offered in memory of Jakob Eriksson, the Swedish plant pathologist that next to Carl von Linné, is the most famous and recognized Swedish scientist in our field – plants and plant diseases. Eriksson was active around the turn of the century – 1900 - first of all as a mycologist, specializing in the taxonomy and parasitism of the fungi. He was however also engaged in virus research, encouraging others in this field. In addition, Jakob Eriksson was a devoted internationalist. He published a series of papers already in the 1890’s, calling on his colleagues in many countries to join together in a scientific alliance through which they could learn from each other, have mutual benefits for disease research.

So, in 1915, he wrote almost passionately in English about his dream of International Phytopathological Collaboration: “Work Begun in Europe – will it be prosecuted in America?”  For those of you that attended the session yesterday afternoon we remember that this was the years when APS made its first steps. Finally, 78 years after his first appeal was published, Jakob Eriksson's dream became a reality with an international organization for plant pathology.  Today we meet here at the 9th International Congress of Plant Pathology – 40 years after the founding of the ISPP that also has agreed to continue to work with the Jakob Eriksson Prize Committee to award the Jakob Eriksson Prize at each International Congress of Plant Pathology.

A few words about The Jakob Eriksson Prize

The JE Prize was established at an international plant pathology conference in Wageningen 1923, where Eriksson himself participated, to encourage creative study of plant pathogens and the processes of disease development in plants.  Among the first contributions to the fund was Professor Quanjer in The Netherlands, and the American Phytopathology Society. The fund was in the long run too small to be able to support grants for research or guest-researchers, so in 1950, the 7th International Biological Congress adopted a resolution that through a committee of experts before each Botanical Congress nominate a candidate for the Jakob Eriksson prize. The JE Committee is an International Committee, today with members from the Netherlands, India, US, Japan, Peru and Sweden.

The Prize consists of a gold medal which is minted by the Royal Swedish mint. Its face is embossed with a continuation of the portrait of Jakob Eriksson at about the age of 50 and the following legend in Latin:

" Investigator formarum specialium fungorum clarissimus". The reverse side shows characteristic details of the spores of Puccinia graminis, surrounded by ears of wheat, rye, and barley. The winners' name is engraved on the edge of the medal.

The mandate, in short, of the JE Committee is to nominate a candidate of distinction, in recognition of her/his research in mycology, in plant pathology, or in virus diseases, with the understanding that the work is of a distinct international value and merit. Of specific relevance for the nomination, has been Eriksson’s ideal concerning international cooperation, teaching and helping or encouraging other colleagues and young scientists in their work. The Jakob Eriksson Prize Fund now is administered through the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm that also stands as a guarantee for the continuation of the Award.”